The 2023 MINI Cooper is sold in the U.S. as an electric and gas compact hatchback with 13 EPA-rated configurations. Its longest-range version, the Cooper SE Hardtop 2 door, is EPA-rated at 114 miles with 110 MPGe combined efficiency. NHTSA lists 2 recall campaigns for this model year, 2 rated critical, which gives it a Safety Signal grade of C. Owners have filed 12 complaints, most often about the electrical system. NHTSA crash-tested it at 4 stars overall.
2023 MINI Cooper
Specs & fuel economy
Source: EPA fueleconomy.gov
Configuration
Powertrain
Drive
Engine / motor
City
Hwy
Comb
Range
kWh/100mi
Charge (240V)
Annual fuel*
Cooper SE Hardtop 2 door
Electric
FWD
135 kW DCPM
119
100
110 MPGe
114 mi
30.7
4 h
$700
Cooper Convertible
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
29
38
32
—
—
—
$2,550
Cooper Hardtop 2 door
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
29
38
32
—
—
—
$2,550
Cooper Hardtop 4 door
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
29
38
32
—
—
—
$2,550
Cooper Convertible
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
27
37
31
—
—
—
$2,650
Cooper Hardtop 2 door
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
27
37
31
—
—
—
$2,650
Cooper Hardtop 4 door
Gas
FWD
1.5L 3-cyl turbo
27
37
31
—
—
—
$2,650
Cooper S Hardtop 2 door
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
28
38
31
—
—
—
$2,650
Cooper S Hardtop 4 door
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
28
38
31
—
—
—
$2,650
Cooper S Convertible
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
27
36
30
—
—
—
$2,750
Cooper S Convertible
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
23
33
27
—
—
—
$3,050
Cooper S Hardtop 2 door
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
23
33
27
—
—
—
$3,050
Cooper S Hardtop 4 door
Gas
FWD
2.0L 4-cyl turbo
23
33
27
—
—
—
$3,050
*EPA estimate at 15,000 miles/year at EPA reference fuel and electricity prices. fueleconomy.gov record ids: 45330, 45221, 45227, 45229, 45222, 45228, 45230, 45267, 45269, 45260.
Emissions & certification
Source: EPA emission certificates
Configuration
Smog rating
Emission standard
Where it can be sold new
SmartWay
Cooper SE Hardtop 2 door
10 / 10
Federal Tier 3 Bin 0 / California ZEV
All 50 states (federal, all altitudes); California and states following California standards
SmartWay Elite
Cooper Convertible, Cooper Hardtop 2 door, Cooper Hardtop 4 door, Cooper S Hardtop 2 door, Cooper S Hardtop 4 door
7 / 10
Federal Tier 3 Bin 30 / California LEV-III SULEV30
All 50 states (federal, all altitudes); California and states following California standards
—
Cooper Hardtop 4 door, Cooper S Convertible, Cooper S Hardtop 2 door, Cooper S Hardtop 4 door
7 / 10
California LEV-III SULEV30 / Federal Tier 3 Bin 30
All 50 states (federal, all altitudes); California and states following California standards
—
Certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S.
The smog rating scores tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, 1 (worst) to 10 (best), and is comparable only within a model year. The standard is the federal bin or California tier the configuration was certified to. Both come from the EPA certificate behind the window sticker.
Filed by the manufacturer with NHTSA under the federal vehicle-identification rule and decoded from the VIN pattern — not a manufacturer press kit, so it describes the configurations we could identify rather than every trim (seen: Cooper, Cooper S, Cooper SE). Figures for the trim you are looking at may differ.
Dimensions & weight
Source: Transport Canada
Length
151.2–157.9 in
Width (body, without mirrors)
68.1 in
Height
55.5–56.3 in
Wheelbase
98.4–101.2 in
Track, front
58.7–59.1 in
Track, rear
58.7–59.1 in
Curb weight
2,701–3,100 lb
Weight distribution, front/rear
60/40 to 63/37
Measured by Transport Canada for its Canadian Vehicle Specifications database, which covers the North American versions of each model — here 5 configurations: 3 Door Electric Hatch FWD, 3 Door Hatch FWD, 3 Door S Hatch FWD, 5 Door Hatch FWD, 5 Door S Hatch FWD. Where a range is shown, those versions differ. Width is the body without mirrors, which is why it can read narrower than a brochure figure. Before we used it we checked it against the US manufacturer press kits we hold (27 Sep 2026): wheelbase agreed within 1% on every vehicle we could compare, length on 98%, and the curb weight fell inside the manufacturer's range on 96%. Source dataset. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Licence.
The 2023 MINI Cooper is in the years where high-voltage electronics and module repairs land on the owner. What an extended plan does and does not cover is worth reading before a dealer quotes you one.
Affiliate disclosure: some links on this page are affiliate links. If you request a quote or buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing on this page changes because of it.
Recalls (2)
Source: NHTSA recall database
!critical
Electrical System
12,535 vehicles94% reported repaired
ProblemBMW of North America, LLC. (BMW) is recalling certain 2020-2024 MINI Hardtop 2 Door (Cooper SE) vehicles.Faults may occur in the high voltage battery or high voltage system, resulting in a short circuit.RiskA short circuit increases the risk of a fire.FixOwners are advised that if a warning message is displayed in the vehicle, to park the vehicle outside and away from structures until the remedy has been completed. Dealers will provide a software update, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 14, 2024. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-866-ASK-MINI (1-866-275-6464).
ProblemBMW of North America, LLC (BMW) is recalling certain 2020-2024 MINI Hardtop 2 Door (Cooper SE) vehicles.The high voltage battery housing may not have been sealed properly, allowing water to enter the battery.RiskA high voltage battery with water damage can cause a fire or a vehicle stall, increasing the risk of injury or a crash.FixDealers will inspect and leak test the high voltage battery, and repair the battery as necessary, free of charge. Letters informing owners of the safety risk were mailed June 28, 2024. Owner notification letters were mailed October 30, 2024. Owners may contact BMW customer service at 1-866-825-1525.
These are vehicle campaigns — the ones the automaker filed against this model. NHTSA also records equipment recalls, filed by a parts maker against a component (a tyre, a child seat, an aftermarket part), and those are not listed here or counted above. nhtsa.gov/recalls shows both for a VIN.
Whether any of this applies to one specific Cooper
A campaign covers a build range, not a model year, so two identical-looking cars from 2023 can differ. Both of these check a VIN against the manufacturer’s own list, free, in about ten seconds. MINI publishes its own lookup because federal rule 49 CFR 573.15 requires it to, and to keep it current to within seven days.
The manufacturer’s letter is the last step of a recall: it has up to 60 days after filing to mail owners, at the address on the registration. We email you the day NHTSA posts a recall on the 2023 MINI Cooper, with what to do next. Nothing else, ever — no newsletter, no marketing, one-click unsubscribe in every message.
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Parts & accessories for the 2023 MINI Cooper
Search by fitment on eBay Motors — OEM take-offs, aftermarket, and the trim pieces dealers no longer stock. The listing and the price are the seller's.
Filed with NHTSA by the people who own these cars, one per problem area. Quoted as written, with anything identifying removed.
The vehicle's suspension system was improperly configured for its electric powertrain at the time of manufacture, resulting in an incorrect ride height that is incompatible with the vehicle's EV platform.
Electrical SystemJun 19, 2026NHTSA owner report · ODI 11745248
While driving in the rain, the car suddenly applied its brakes, all lights inside the car shut off, and the car came to a stop. The car behind hit it. The car was immediately taken to the service department at Dreyer & Reinbold MINI in Carmel, Indiana.
Service BrakesAug 25, 2025NHTSA owner report · ODI 11682949
The problem/issue is with THE GLASS ON MY CAR ROOF/THE PANORAMIC SUNROOF. No insulation to protect me/others from heat or cold. The temp of roof gets 2-3 times the temp of the day. 200-300F. This can lead to discomfort/use of EXTRA energy/pollution etc. A child left in such car wd be in deadly danger.
StructureSep 8, 2024NHTSA owner report · ODI 11613353
I started the car in the morning and the screen message came up “high voltage system fault, contact your dealer to get service, you can continue to drive”. My distance available to drive on a 100% Barrett charge dropped from 100 to 20. I had the car towed to the dealer. They have not been able to determine the cause for over a month
Fuel/Propulsion SystemJul 31, 2024NHTSA owner report · ODI 11605581
The contact owns a 2023 Mini Cooper. The contact stated that since owning the vehicle, all four tires had been replaced several times due to each tire running flat. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where a mechanic informed the contact that the tire failure could be linked to the weight of the vehicle.
2023 Mini Cooper. Consumer writes in regard to complete malfunction of vehicle. The consumer stated after receiving instructional training and test driving the vehicle and experiencing a complete multifunction resulting in a crash
EngineJan 26, 2023NHTSA owner report · ODI 11503777
Complaint counts are raw owner reports to NHTSA, not verified defects, and scale with how many were sold. Use them to spot patterns, not to rank.
Crash ratings
Source: NHTSA NCAP
Configuration
Overall
Frontal
Side
Rollover
Rollover risk
3 HB FWD
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
★★★★☆
11%
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program.
Service bulletins & campaigns
Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications
Extended coverage on file1 filing by the manufacturer with NHTSA naming this model year
Once the Telematics Module (TCB2) enters sleep mode, a MINI Data Services trigger for Remote Services(remote engine start, lock/unlock/climate conditioning) will not be able to reactivate the TCB2. Due to this issue, Remote Services will not function in the vehicle when parked and locked.
Some model year (MY) 2023/2024 MINI vehicles may be equipped with a Body Domain Controller (BDC)that needs to be replaced. This is not a safety, emissions, or any other performance issue.
The buttons on the gear selector switch (GWS) do not work, or the function indicator lighting has failed. One or more of the following faults is saved in the fault memory of the gear selector switch (GWS): 80268E - Park button sticking and/or 80268F - Parking button defective and/or 802680 - Functional display defective and/or 802681 - Locator lighting defective and/or 802691 - Rele
MINI electrical systems have continued to develop over the past few years. As a result, the demand on the batteries has increased. Breakdowns due to an empty battery or problems in the vehicles electrical system can have various causes, most of which are not due to the battery itself. For this reason, a battery replacement will permanently eliminate the problem only in the rarest of cases. The
2023-06-01 · Equipment — Other — Owners/Service/Other Manual
BMW AG has issued a Delivery Stop (effective June 6, 2023) on a certain Model Year 2023 - 2024 MINI vehicles that were produced between February 10, 2023 and April 25, 2023.
A service bulletin is the manufacturer telling its dealers how to diagnose or repair a known condition. It is not a recall, not a finding that the vehicle is defective, and the work is not automatically free — though a bulletin is often what a dealer works from when you describe a symptom, so quoting the document number can save a diagnosis. The count is every communication filed; the list shows the most recent, one entry per campaign, because a single campaign is usually filed as several documents on the same day. The summaries are NHTSA's; the full documents come from the manufacturer.
At the New York inspection station
Source: New York State DMV
In New York’s inspection lanes over the 12 months to Oct 10, 2026, the 2023 MINI Cooper failed the emissions check on 1.0% of first inspections — lower than the 1.6% for every 2023 model-year vehicle inspected; and the safety inspection on 0.64% (every 2023 vehicle: 1.1%).
New York inspections1.0%
failed emissions
786 initial inspections of 768 vehicles.
Measure
The 2023 Cooper
Every 2023 vehicle
Behind it
Failed the emissions check
1.0%
1.6%
697
Failed the safety inspection
0.64%
1.1%
786
Air-bag warning lamp stayed lit
0.38%
0.16%
786
Miles driven a year
7,565
10,038
odometer at inspection
Average odometer
24,660
32,673
odometer at inspection
New York’s emissions test on these model years is an on-board diagnostics check: it fails a car whose check-engine light is on or whose self-tests have not finished. First inspections only, so a car that failed and came back is counted once; private and special plates, not taxis, livery or commercial plates. A rate appears only where at least 200 inspections stand behind it. “Every 2023 vehicle” is every 2023 model-year car, SUV and pickup inspected in the same window, all makes. This is the state’s record of test results, not a reliability score by itself. Source: New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, Vehicle Inspections (data.ny.gov, Open NY terms).
NHTSA has posted 2 recall campaigns for the 2023 MINI Cooper, 2 of them rated critical. The most serious on file is 24V612000, covering Electrical System. Check your own VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls; a recall applies to specific build ranges, not every car.
How safe is the 2023 MINI Cooper?
NHTSA gave the 2023 MINI Cooper 4 stars overall in its New Car Assessment Program tests — 4-star frontal crash, 4-star side crash, 4-star rollover. WhichTrim also grades it C (72/100) on its recall record, which is a different question from crash protection.
What is the fuel economy of the 2023 MINI Cooper?
Across the 13 EPA-rated configurations of the 2023 MINI Cooper, the best EPA combined figure is 32 mpg (MPGe on the electrified versions) and the longest EPA range is 114 miles on a charge. Figures are the EPA's own, per configuration, and every one is listed above.
What are the dimensions of the 2023 MINI Cooper?
Transport Canada measured it at 151.2–157.9 in long, 68.1 in wide (body, without mirrors), 55.5–56.3 in tall, on a 98.4–101.2 in wheelbase. Curb weight: 2,701–3,100 lb depending on configuration. Those are its measurements of the North American versions; every figure is in the table above.
What do owners complain about on the 2023 MINI Cooper?
Owners have filed 12 complaints with NHTSA about the 2023 MINI Cooper, most often about electrical system, tires, unspecified. Of those, 2 involved a crash, 1 a fire. Complaints are unverified owner reports, so treat the pattern as a signal and the individual report as an anecdote.
How clean is the 2023 MINI Cooper?
The EPA smog rating for the 2023 MINI Cooper runs 7 to 10 out of 10 across its configurations. That score covers tailpipe pollutants other than greenhouse gases, and it only compares vehicles within the same model year. It is certified for all fifty states, so it can be registered new anywhere in the U.S. Its configurations were certified to different standards — California LEV-III SULEV30, California ZEV, Federal Tier 3 Bin 0, Federal Tier 3 Bin 30 — which the table above lists per configuration.
Are there service bulletins for the 2023 MINI Cooper?
The manufacturer has filed 21 service bulletins and related communications with NHTSA for the 2023 MINI Cooper, most often covering electrical system, equipment, fuel/propulsion system. The most recent is dated 2026-07-10. A bulletin is not a recall: it is the repair procedure a manufacturer sends its dealers for a condition it knows about, and the work is not automatically paid for. It is still worth knowing — if the symptom matches, quoting the bulletin number at the service desk can save a diagnosis. The document numbers and summaries are listed above.
How does the 2023 MINI Cooper do at state inspection?
In New York’s inspection lanes over the 12 months to Oct 10, 2026, the 2023 MINI Cooper failed the emissions check on 1.0% of first inspections — lower than the 1.6% for every 2023 model-year vehicle inspected; and the safety inspection on 0.64% (every 2023 vehicle: 1.1%). The figures are New York State DMV’s own inspection records, first inspections only, and the table above sets each one against every vehicle of the same model year.
What we hold, and what an empty row means
Paid vehicle-history reports will not tell you the difference between “nothing happened to this car” and “we never received that record” — both of the big two say as much in their own help pages. Most of what is on this page comes from complete federal registers, so we can tell you which is which, row by row.
Data
Held
Source
What it covers — or what empty means
Fuel economy & configurations
13 configurations
EPA certification records
Every configuration the EPA certified for sale, with its own test figures.
Emission certificates
13 configurations
EPA emission certificates
Smog rating, standard and the sales area that decides where the car can be sold new.
Recalls
2
NHTSA recall campaigns
A complete federal register: every campaign covering this model year, with severity and advisory flags.
Owner complaints
12
NHTSA complaint database
Also complete, but unverified: these are reports owners filed, not findings. Counts scale with how many were sold.
Crash ratings
1 tested
NHTSA NCAP
Only the configurations NHTSA chose to crash-test, which is never all of them.
Service bulletins
21
NHTSA manufacturer communications
Everything the manufacturer told its dealers about a defect or malfunction, short of a recall.
Investigations
none
NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
No defect investigation has been opened.
Driver-assist crash reports
none
NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01
No report has been filed. Only entities named in the order report, and only crashes they hear of — so this is also what an unequipped car, or a manufacturer without telematics, looks like.
Specifications filed with NHTSA
11 fields
NHTSA vPIC, decoded from VIN patterns
What the manufacturer filed under the federal VIN rule — a configuration, not the full trim ladder.
Measured dimensions
7 fields
Transport Canada, Canadian Vehicle Specifications
Length, width, height, wheelbase, track and curb weight, measured on the North American versions.
Trims, pricing & equipment
none
Manufacturer press kit
We have not transcribed a press kit for this model year yet. This is our gap, not the manufacturer's — the one row here where an empty cell means we are behind.
Rebuilt nightly; this page was generated 2026-10-26. Every figure above is traceable to the source named beside it, and the JSON for this page carries the same values with their identifiers.
Safety Signal starts every model-year at 100 and subtracts points per open NHTSA recall campaign by severity: critical 15 (fire risk, park-outside or do-not-drive advisories), high 8 (brakes, steering, airbags, loss of drive power, structure, battery), moderate 6, minor 3 (software, labels, lighting fixed by an update). The most serious recall counts in full and each further one counts 85% of the one before, because a vehicle sold in millions is recalled more often than a rare one without being more dangerous — and because a flat subtraction bottomed the scale out, scoring a vehicle with 22 recalls within a point of one with six. A ≥ 90, B ≥ 80, C ≥ 70, D ≥ 60, otherwise F. Read it as what it counts: recall campaigns on the federal record, weighted by severity. The damping reduces the sales bias by roughly 40% but does not remove it: like our complaint counts, this is not normalized by how many were sold, so a best-seller still scores somewhat worse than an obscure model with the same real risk. NHTSA crash ratings, do-not-drive and park-outside advisories, and the crash, fire, injury and death counts in owner complaints are reported separately on every page and never blended into the letter — a vehicle can hold five stars and a poor letter at once, and where that happens we say so rather than leave you to notice. Because the scale subtracts from a clean sheet, a model year too new to have been recalled, complained about or bulletined scores full marks on an empty record; we label those grades provisional rather than present them as earned.
EPA figures come from fueleconomy.gov vehicle records. Recalls, complaints, investigations and crash ratings come from NHTSA's public flat files, refreshed nightly.